


Video Games

by artificialmac



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: Angst, Childhood Friends, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Growing Up Together, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:34:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25020982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artificialmac/pseuds/artificialmac
Summary: Brooke and Yvie's friendship starts in a bowling alley when they are 6.
Relationships: Brooke Lynn Hytes/Yvie Oddly
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Video Games

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written Brooke/Yvie so pls go easy on me! This is dedicated to the lovely Imposter Zoe for the fic exchange!

For as long as she could remember, Brooke had sought to be free. 

As soon as she could count, she longed to read.   
As soon as she could read, she longed to write.   
As soon as she could walk, she longed to fly.

From the time she could comprehend the concept of freedom, Brooke had longed to be just that. 

Her childhood room feeling more and more like a prison with every passing day. 

The first time Brooke had felt true freedom was when her older sister took her by the hand and the two walked down the heat slick streets to the local bowling alley. There were only four lanes, and the balls were all dented on one side but there was an arcade. Far bigger than it should be for such a small building. 

Brooke’s sister had let go of her hand, filled it with coins, and told her to get lost.

And she had.

In between flashy lights and hyper dance music she had gotten lost between the machines that boasted ‘fastest car chase’ and ‘hardest dance game’ among others. 

The loud noises and the bigger kids boasting their high scores, taunting her, scared her away from the scene, eventually forcing her into hiding in the corner of the room, clutching her knees to her chest. 

Right as she was on the verge of letting her tears fall, she felt a hand on her shoulder. 

Her first instinct was to flinch away, but the hand stayed firmly in place. Solid. Unyielding. Brooke looked up to see a girl her age with beautiful black braids and kind eyes smiling down at her.

She said her name was Yvie and her dad owned the place. 

Brooke had mumbled her own name in between sniffles and Yvie had only smiled wider. She sat next to Brooke and started telling her all about the different games. Yvie said that she knew how to win the claw machine every time because once she saw her dad do some weird movements with the joystick that unlocked special settings. 

Yvie offered to show her.

Brooke smiled and nodded, feeling infinitely braver with the other girl by her side.

The afternoon passed in a haze, with Yvie’s hand in hers, as they skipped between machines, exploiting the manufacturer’s faults for their own childhood glee. 

Brooke promised to come back next weekend, and Yvie had nodded and said she would see her soon.

And she did.

Brooke spent every weekend of her elementary school life in the darkened space between video games, running and laughing with Yvie when her dad would scold them for ruining his arcade.

She learned to bowl and held the highest score on DDR and never once did the petty childhood fears of the outside world permeate the cool AC of the bowling alley arcade. 

...

The second time Brooke had known true freedom was in a middle school gym class. 

They had been focusing on dance that year, units ranging from hip hop to tap. The week they started their study of ballet, something inside Brooke sang. As she dipped and turned and jumped higher than she thought possible, she felt like she was flying. 

She felt like she could go anywhere, do anything, be bigger than herself.

She swore from that day forward she knew her purpose in life and she would pursue that with a passion unmatched by anything else.

...

The third time Brooke felt freedom was in Yvie’s bedroom after their freshman year dance recital. 

Yvie and Brooke had taken to opposite ends of the dance spectrum but had insisted on sticking together through it all. They had joined the school dance team their first year, ready for whatever challenges high school would throw, content to get through the years as they did everything else, together. 

Brooke was laying on her side, admiring the way Yvie’s even breaths made her chest rise and fall like waves. 

They were flirting with the edge of sleep when Yvie asked her if she had a crush on anyone.

Brooke hadn’t liked to think about it much. She had heard other girls talk about boys before, gushed about their smiles and their hair and the way they smelled. Brooke never really got it. Her mother told her she would meet someone that would change her mind, but some part of Brooke secretly hoped she never would.

When she didn’t answer, Yvie turned to look at her, the sudden intense eye contact, even in the pitch black of the room, made Brooke’s skin tingle pleasantly.

“Me either.”

...

The fourth and final time Brooke had been truly free was in the bed of Yvie’s truck at 3 am the night before graduation. 

The younger girl had curled up to Brooke’s side, head on the taller woman’s shoulder and cried until all the liquid had left her body. Brooke had held her close, wiped the tears and worries that college would change them away with the pads of her fingers.

She promised they would always stay like this.

Then Yvie had kissed her.

And that same feeling she got when she danced hit her like a ton of bricks in the chest.

Suddenly, she could barely breathe, throat closing on emotion as flashes from their past filled her mind. Like a slideshow behind her closed eyelids played the movie of their lives. 

All culminating in this one moment, with Yvie’s lips pressed to hers.

So Brooke ran.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry it's so short, but I only just got an internet connection today, so I hope you don't hate it!


End file.
